Mildura healing place offers space to 'express sadness'

By Damien Hooper (ABC Local)

There's a healing place at the Mildura Base Hospital where anyone can go, relax and take time out from medical surrounds.
The wooden structure with a ramp leading inside has recently had a makeover of its memory wall where people are welcome to leave a message for a loved one.

"They have a memory wall, with that it's a place for people to come down to if they have sorry business going on at the hospital," Clair Bates from Sunraysia Community Health.

Ms Bates says the healing room is "somewhere where in traditional days our people would gather in a group when there was sorry business happening.

"But it's a place here where they can express their sadness and where they can leave a mark on the wall here in memory of their loved ones," she says.

The structure has two filled in walls with the remaining walls left open.

"I think that was deliberately done in the beginning because we lived out in the open we lived in the bush.

"That's how a lot of these structures that I've seen throughout my life for Aboriginal people where they congregate for any types of business, they do like to be out in the open," she says.

According to Ms Bates the healing place has been designed to "make our people more aware of our services in health."

"We want our people when they come to any of these places that the can look and they can see an Aboriginal piece of art so that they will feel comfortable about coming along to use these services," she says.

One of the artists who worked on the re-painting of the wall was Robin Bates-Koroi and fresh finishing her honours she was keen to contribute something to the community.

"It's a wall that anybody can come along to. They can come along and write their names and how much they love them and have that there forever for anyone to see.

"I really wanted to work out in the community and start bringing out some art that's not just in a gallery you know, it's out there for everybody to see," she says.

For Ms Bates-Koroi the healing place offers more than just a place of respect for the community.

"It brings out awareness too for Aboriginal people or non Aboriginal people to know where those services are.

"They can see this and see that Aboriginal people are involved here so it should be more welcoming to them now," she says.